JD Gaming has already picked out Pyke in their first match of LPL. Despite the loss, there has been diversity in picks coming from bot lane in professional play. Are brusiers the strongest pick in the bot lane? What supports are the strongest right now?
A Shift in the Bot Lane
Was the Pyke pick worth it? JD Gaming brought out Vladimir and Pyke, symbolizing the recent shift in the bot lane meta. However, Invictus Gaming’s Kai’sa and Alistar picks completely shut down the unorthodox duo. Still, new bot laners are valued and provide a spin on the traditional ranged marksman and support duo.
Recently, NA pro players have been streaming games of them practicing champions like Irelia, Yasuo, Mordekaiser and Darius as bruisers in the bot lane. Even mages like Ziggs and Vladimir are showing their faces. So what happened to the rest of the traditional ADC champion pool that makes them so unappealing?
If you keep up with the League of Legends meta, you’ve most likely noticed a few things. The strongest supports, champions like Alistar or Rakan who can instantly start a fight, haven’t changed. The new items like Stormrazor and changes to other crit-based items make it difficult for champions that rely on crit as their main source of damage.
Players no longer find much value in champions like Caitlyn, Tristana and Jinx. This means Ezreal, Lucian and Kai’sa are the strongest ADCs in the game as of patch 8.11. However, this leads to an interesting situation; what happens when the strongest champions are banned?
Changes in pick/ban strategies
Historically, every lane besides bot lane has seen multiple types of champions in the roles. Tanks, bruisers and even mages have been viable top lane options. Mid lane has seen mages, assassins, enchanters and even tanks. The jungle is constantly shifting between carries and utility tanks. However, bot lane has always been about protecting the ranged carries with a lot of damage.
Pros are practicing bruisers and mages bot lane for the inevitable bans towards the strongest ADCs. Even with certain champions available, bot lane is no longer entirely centered around protecting the squishy carry. Every champion who is viable can defend themselves, allowing supports to focus on engages and disruption rather than peel.
The shift in bot lane dynamic has created one of the most interesting metas in League of Legends. Many different team compositions are viable, with different strategies to execute them. We’ve seen some of the LPL’s priority picks, now we get to see NA’s idea of the meta this coming weekend.
Featured Image courtesy of Riot Games.
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